News Release

$5 million gift names UNC's Chapman Hall,
new building in Carolina Physical Science Complex

CHAPEL HILL - A $5 million gift to the College of Arts and Sciences from alumnus Max Carrol Chapman Jr., a successful businessman who is passionate about science, will help fund a new building in the Carolina Physical Science Complex at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The nearly 130,000-square-foot building -- named Max C. Chapman Jr. Hall -- is part of the complex's first phase. It opened this semester and was dedicated Saturday (Nov. 18) in a morning ceremony featuring University of North Carolina President Erskine Bowles, UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees Chairman Nelson Schwab, UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser and Chapman.

The $205 million Carolina Physical Science Complex is the largest construction project in the university's history, supported by a combination of private funds, government grants and N.C. state bond revenues. It will enhance Carolina's longtime interdisciplinary strengths by bringing together faculty and students in high-technology laboratories, classrooms, lecture halls and libraries.

Chapman Hall, one of five buildings planned for the complex and one of two buildings in phase one, features a rooftop observatory deck for astronomy students and faculty and a remote observing control room for telescopes UNC uses in partnership with Chile and South Africa. The building also includes classrooms and faculty offices; special laboratories with vibration-free space for electron microscopes; laser labs; teleconference rooms with shielding to avoid electronic interference; new space for the Institute for Advanced Materials, Nanoscience and Technology; two state-of-the-art lecture halls; and a new 4,500-square-foot fluids laboratory that will be shared by marine sciences and applied mathematics. A large wave tank will allow researchers to study the large-scale behavior of water seen in hurricanes and tsunamis.

"Max Chapman has been a longtime champion of the liberal arts at Carolina," said Chancellor Moeser. "As a highly successful corporate leader, he understands the importance of scientific discovery to our local, state, national and world economy. He also recognizes the critical need for world-class teaching and research facilities to attract the very best faculty, graduate students and undergraduates to UNC."

Chapman received a bachelor's degree in economics from Carolina in 1966 and a master of business administration degree from Columbia Business School in 1969. He played a key role on the Tar Heel football team as a running back and kicker. In his sophomore year, Chapman kicked the game-winning field goal as time expired to allow Carolina to defeat arch-rival Duke and propel the 1963 squad into the Gator Bowl.

Chapman is a legendary figure in the futures and options industry on Wall Street. He is chairman of Gardner Capital Management Corp. in New York City. He was inducted into the Futures Industry Association's Futures Hall of Fame.

Chapman led the Wall Street firm of Kidder, Peabody and Co. as president and chief executive officer and served the American Stock Exchange as its vice chairman. He then joined Nomura Securities and served as chairman of U.S. operations in 1989 until his retirement in 1999. In the early 1990s, Chapman made a name for himself by building a major Nomura presence in the United States. That success led to Chapman being invited to join Nomura's main board as a managing director in Tokyo--the first non-Japanese to achieve that post.

At Carolina, Chapman has been honored with both a William Richardson Davie Award, the highest honor given by the Board of Trustees, and a Distinguished Service Medal from General Alumni Association. For nearly 20 years, he has served on the UNC-Chapel Hill Foundation's Investment Fund, and as its chairman for the past decade. Under his leadership, the university's overall endowment has grown to a level approaching $1.8 billion and ranks as one of the most successful public university investment pools in the United States.

He once told the University Gazette, "There are lots of investment strategies that will work, but if you try to do them all, you will fail; we have to stick to our strategy."

"Chapman's clarity about the importance of growing the university's endowment through diverse investments and his ability to bring out the talents of the sophisticated money managers on the investment committee have strengthened the university immeasurably," said the alumni association award citation.

His family also has established the Chapman teaching fellowships and he has served on the board of the Arts and Sciences Foundation and the UNC Foundation. His generosity made possible a new golf team facility -- the Chapman Center -- at UNC's Finley Golf Course. He is a member of the Carolina First Steering Committee.

He also is dedicated to wildlife conservation and serves on the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation board as its past chairman.

The Carolina Physical Science Complex is being built in two phases and will replace outdated, deteriorating buildings with cutting-edge facilities.

Once both phases are complete in 2010, the complex will provide much needed teaching and lab space for the departments of chemistry, computer science, marine sciences, mathematics, and physics and astronomy. The second phase of the project will involve the demolition of Venable Hall to make room for new facilities.

Chapman's gift counts toward the Carolina First Campaign, a comprehensive, multi-year, private fund-raising campaign with a goal of
$2 billion to support Carolina's vision of becoming the nation's leading public university.

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College of Arts and Sciences contact: Dee Reid, (919) 630-6851
News Services contact: Becky Oskin, (919) 218-7835